Print

Mail

wiki links

First lady files suit against fugitive

"This is an absolute fabrication and he [Chen Yu-hao] is full of lies. I have never met him on any private occasions."

Wu Shu-chen, wife of President Chen shui-bian

First lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) filed a libel lawsuit at Taipei District Prosecutors' Office yesterday against fugitive tycoon Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) over his statements that he had once delivered bribe money to Wu at her home.

Wu also sued Chen Yu-hao for violating the Election and Recall Law (選罷法) by trying to make President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) lose his re-election bid, saying the former Tuntex Group chairman is spreading untruthful allegations to help the opposition attack the president and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

"Chen Yu-hao has been making false accusations against me in the past few days by saying he had visited me at my home twice and gave me NT$6 million in cash," Wu told a press conference.

"This is an absolute fabrication and he is full of lies. I have never met him on any private occasions," she said.

Wu said she was forced to take legal action against the fugitive since "my silence might be mistaken for a confession" amid negative election campaigning.

"Chen yu-hao left huge debts in Taiwan but claims that his assets are much greater then his debts," Wu said. "If that were true, he should immediately return to Taiwan to deal with his liabilities."

"He said that he has no money and has become a vagrant, so how could he hire bodyguards and take out so many ads in Taiwan's media?" Wu asked.

The tycoon fled Taiwan in 2002 while awaiting trial on corruption charges. In interviews earlier this week in San Francisco, he said he could prove he visited Wu in 1994 and again in 2000 before her husband was elected president.

Wu told reporters yesterday that his description of her bathroom was completely inaccurate.

"A popular local magazine did a feature story on my home in 1998, when Chen Shui-bian was running for the reelection as Taipei mayor," Wu said. "Chen Yu-hao should have read the story before making his lies."

"He said there was no toilet [in the bathroom] but you can see the toilet when you walk in," she said.

Wu's bathroom was specially designed to accommodate her wheelchair. She was paralyzed after being run down in 1985 in what many people believe was a politically motivated attack.

She expressed concern over the increasing negative tone of the campaign, saying that "whenever there is an election, there will be these smear campaigns.

"In the 1998 Taipei mayoral election, opponents said that my husband had secretly visited Macau many times to solicit prostitutes, and in the 2000 presidential election, opponents accused my husband of being involved in a lottery scandal," Wu said. "Those rumors and groundless allegations all proved to be tricks to tarnish him."

Deputy Secretary General to the President Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) and Chang Ching-sen (張景森), the vice chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, also went to the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office to file a libel suit against Chen Yu-hao. The fugitive has claimed that Chen Che-nan took a NT$10 million bribe from him in 2001 and Chang Ching-sen accepted NT$1 million.
This story has been viewed 2496 times.